The Frozen Kingdom
by lucelafonde
Summary: After Alabasta, the crew gets stuck and has to deal with cabin fever, strange creatures, and unexpected developments. (ZoLu)
1. Chapter 1

As was often the case, Zoro slept through most of it, but as happened just as much, he was also the first to notice that something was off.

When he had stretched and slowly climbed down the crow's nest, he started wondering what had interrupted his pleasant nap, slightly scratching his still woozy-feeling head as he walked along the railing, and after a moment he was ready to shrug it off as a change in temperature or something when it hit him.

They weren't moving.

That couldn't be right; the sails were bowed by the clearly present wind, and Zoro could even feel the cool breeze on his cheeks as he was glaring up the mast.

But they weren't moving.

He was certain of it.

Over time he had become attuned to the ship and its rhythm, and right now he couldn't feel anything.

Wrong.

It felt wrong.

Frowning, he checked the sails again, but they still looked like they were doing their job just fine.

Dammit.

Leaning against the railing with his back to the water for a moment to contemplate the odd feeling he had, he jerked back almost immediately at the iciness that hit his wrists when they touched the wood.

What the…?

Turning around slowly, already dreading what he would find, he swallowed heavily at the sight in front of him, and it took him all of five seconds to run towards the mast and start climbing it frantically while yelling for the others.

"Luffy! Usopp! Get out here, quick!"

He didn't check to see if they were coming; he was confident they'd heard him, and they knew better than to leave him waiting. Continuing his climb, he only stopped once he'd reached the crow's nest again, breathing in deeply once before he allowed himself to take in the undoubtedly terrible situation they had found themselves in.

It was as he'd expected.

They were completely frozen into the sea. Zoro was confident he could walk a few miles on the solid ice before it would ease up enough to break under his weight, and that thought did nothing to calm his fears.

"Zoro, what's up?" Luffy asked innocently, staring at him out of curious eyes from the ground, Usopp right beside him, shivering visibly even from the distance.

"Get the sails up, NOW," he ordered, redirecting his gaze back to the sea again. It wasn't looking good, but if he lost his nerves now, Usopp and Luffy would freak out, and that would only make it worse, so he forced himself to stay calm and count to three while the others were working quietly, if clearly taken aback, at the task they had been given.

Once they were done, Zoro considered them for a moment, gesturing for Luffy to join him at the top after brief hesitation. He would find out eventually — better get it over with now.

"Take a look at this," he said vaguely, observing his captain's every reaction when the boy had jumped up and landed beside him, blinking at the frozen sea out of wide, uncomprehending eyes.

It took Luffy longer than he'd expected to open his mouth, but no words were coming out.

Good.

At least he understood the gravity of the situation.

The silence dragged on for a little while longer, and eventually Usopp was the one to break it with an impatient "What's going on guys? What's so interesting up there? Hurry up, it's freezing!"

That seemed to wake Luffy up at last; he shivered violently and immediately hugged himself tightly with a shocked look on his face. "Cold!" he squeaked, as if noticing that fact for the very first time.

Zoro sighed.

His captain sure was slow on the uptake sometimes.

"That's the least of our problems right now," he pointed out patiently, long since used to the boy's sluggish ability of understanding, "I don't have to tell you what this," he gestured towards the open sea, "means, do I?"

Luffy nodded gravely, still looking put out at the low temperatures. "So what do we do?"

Zoro snorted.

"Aren't YOU the captain?"

He pouted, considering Zoro for a moment before he turned downward and yelled: "Usopp! We're stuck! What do we do?"

Groaning, Zoro buried his face in his hand, wondering briefly why he had ever thought involving Luffy at all could possibly be a good idea. As much as he supported and admired his captain, outside of battle situations, Luffy wasn't that much of a ship captain at all. No one on board seemed to have less knowledge than him about life on the open sea, and it surprised Zoro not for the first time that they had made it that far at all.

"WHAT? What are you talking about?" Usopp huffed, dragging himself into the crow's nest with them, more focused on staring at Luffy than his surroundings for the moment. "Don't be stupid, we just retracted the sails, of course we're not moving."

The captain didn't say anything, just nudged his friend lightly and nodded towards the scenery in front of them. It took Usopp a moment to catch up with the situation, but once he did, his eyes widened in alarm and he almost immediately abandoned the spot he had been standing in, hurrying down the mast as quickly as he could, yelling for the others.

"Nami! Sanji! EVERYBODY GET OUT HERE!" he cried, knocking desperately on every door he could find, and once he'd done that, he spent his energy on running around frantically, mumbling and screaming things about impending death and starvation.

The others appeared cautiously, not exactly alarmed because they knew Usopp tended to overreact and if it had been anything immediately life-threatening one of the others would have called for them with some information, but they were definitely on their guard.

Nami was the first to notice.

She had stepped out with a half-annoyed look on her face at being interrupted while she was busy drawing her maps, but as soon as she set eyes on the still moving Usopp and consequently the landscape behind him, she paled, and her eyes went wide in horror.

"No way…" she breathed, gaze fixed on the frozen sea surrounding them.

Sanji could finally be bothered to be concerned at her reaction; so much so in fact that he didn't even fawn over her before he followed the direction of her eyes and froze on the spot like she had.

"What the…?"

Robin and Chopper took a moment longer to appear because they had been busy with creating rumble balls (or in Robin's case watching Chopper make them with some fascination), but once they got out, the cold hit them almost instantaneously and Robin's sharp gaze immediately found the biggest source of their problems.

"That doesn't look good," she said calmly, the only one capable of tearing her eyes away from the scene to search for their captain.

"That would be one way to put it," Zoro grunted between clenched teeth, but his eyes were still fixed on Luffy, who still hadn't moved at all.

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!"

All eyes wandered to Chopper, watching him run blindly around the ship like Usopp for a moment before they finally turned upwards to fix Luffy with a questioning look.

"How did this happen?" Nami asked with forced calmness in her voice that was clearly taking a lot out of her. "We just left a desert island! How can it be…"

"This IS the Grand Line," Robin pointed out quietly, not the first person to remind them of the dangers of these particular waters.

Zoro nodded gravely, crossing his arms in front of his chest in contemplation. "I was taking a nap, but something woke me up pretty suddenly. I think it was the ship coming to an abrupt halt."

"YOU WERE NAPPING WHEN WE GOT TRAPPED? You useless piece of—" Sanji burst out, looking for all the world as if he was ready to kick down the mast to get to the swordsman.

Zoro's eyes narrowed on his furious face, and he said calmly: "Yes. I was. I was also the only person to notice that something was off, so what were YOU doing, idiot?"

Sanji made a step towards him, but Nami stopped him with a stern look and turned towards Zoro again.

"How long have you been asleep?"

He shrugged. "No idea. Not that long."

"All right. Who was the last person outside? And when was it?"

They all exchanged worried looks, trying to remember what had happened that day, and eventually Usopp spoke up.

"Well, I went inside at around noon because the sun was burning too brightly to properly work on my newest invention. You see, it needs to—"

"I was playing cards with Chopper and Luffy until I went to make snacks," Sanji interrupted him thoughtfully, rubbing his chin in contemplation, "about two hours ago?"

"Hey!"

Chopper nodded gravely, paying the put out Usopp no mind. "That's right. And then I left to make my rumble balls with Robin!"

"I was inside all day," she said quickly, "it was too hot to read outside."

Everything went silent for a long moment that threatened to stretch into eternity until Nami finally voiced what they were all thinking. "So Luffy was the last one out?"

They groaned, knowing full well that the navigator had been holed up in her room all day, and since Zoro had probably been asleep ever since he'd settled into the crow's nest (which had been after lunch), Luffy must have been the last person to see what was happening to the Going Merry.

Brilliant.

"Luffy," Nami said overly friendly, a slight twitch on her face, "did you see anything before you went inside?"

"Nope."

That had been quick.

And expected.

They groaned as one, and it took Nami all the willpower she had not to climb up and strangle him in that moment. "Think," she pleaded, "when did you go inside?"

"Don't know," Luffy shrugged carelessly, "my hat got blown off and Zoro didn't wanna play with me, so it got boring outside."

"I WAS ASLEEP, YOU IDIOT!" Zoro grunted, but he wasn't half as annoyed as he pretended to be. He hadn't even noticed Luffy hanging around, and since the captain hadn't actually woken him up to be entertained, he had nothing to be complaining about.

Nami started wandering up and down the ship while they were arguing about how boring Zoro was, and after a minute or two she came to an abrupt halt and said: "Well, there's nothing for it. We're stuck now. We need to get out."

"Agreed," Robin nodded, growing a hand to prevent Chopper from accidentally sliding off the ship, "although I doubt it will be easy."

Zoro sighed, already halfway down the mast before they had finished speaking, and before anyone could ask what he was doing, he had already jumped overboard and landed on the hard ice surrounding them.

Frozen solid.

It wasn't looking good; he had put his entire weight into the jump, naively hoping it might perhaps crack the surface, but he should have known that if the Going Merry didn't stand a chance, neither did he.

"Can you see anything?" Luffy asked curiously, leaning over the railing with a look that disconcerted Zoro deeply.

"No," he admitted, "and stay where you are. It could still crack beneath you." And he had no desire to jump after Luffy in the clearly icy water.

Briefly looking up to catch his captain's pout, he leaned forward a bit, kicking the ice directly touching the ship with as much power as he could — to no avail. Annoyed, he pulled out one of his swords, stabbing into the ground beneath him, but that too didn't change anything about the fact that they were stuck.

Dammit.

"Yup," he said calmly, sheathing Wado again with excessive care, "we're not going anywhere."

They were all looking down at him with different expressions at the announcement, but at least Usopp and Chopper had stopped running for the moment.

He felt more than saw Luffy's hand extend, and after a moment he found himself standing back on deck with his captain, too worried to admonish him for using his freakish powers to get him up.

Nami had disappeared, doubtlessly trying to look for something that would explain and aid their current situation, and Sanji had gone back inside to do who-knew-what. The others were still staring at each other with various degrees of shock, and eventually Usopp shivered again so violently that even Zoro felt cold, causing all of them to remember the sudden drop in temperature.

"Let's go inside; there's nothing we can do out here anyway," the swordsman said, firmly pushing his captain and the inventor towards the kitchen when they weren't looking as if they had any inclination to follow his suggestion.

Robin had picked up Chopper with a slight smile at his perplexed expression and carried him inside after the others before the door closed behind them and they found themselves greeted by a table set with steaming beverages and a pleased looking Sanji.

"That was quick." Zoro frowned, wondering briefly how he was still surprised at the cook's reaction time when it came to nourishment.

He only shrugged, already half-way towards Robin with a smitten smile and an especially pretty looking glass for her to take.

Luffy's excitement waned a bit at the realisation that it would only be drinks for the time being and not food, but Zoro forced him to sit down beside him anyway, watching Usopp promptly burn his tongue on the drink which earned him an admonishment from Sanji.

He didn't even hear it; Zoro's mind was still occupied with trying to find a solution to their problem, but the best he could come up with was waiting for the ice to melt by itself.

Which wasn't exactly all that likely.

Sighing, he redirected his attention to the table, briefly surprised to find Nami sitting there too now, and they shared one of the most worried looks to date while everyone else was busy complementing Sanji on his drinks. Whatever else their issues were, Zoro knew that he and Nami were the only people on the ship mature enough to react appropriately in a crisis, and they realised without exchanging a single word that they would have to be the ones to solve this issue — perhaps with Robin's help, but neither of them fully understood or trusted her yet, so they wouldn't count on it.

Their captain looked for all the world as if he was having the time of his life, laughing merrily at Usopp's tormented expression when Sanji forced him to finish his drink despite his burnt tongue because he wouldn't let him waste anything on this ship, especially not now that they were stuck for who-knew-how-long.

That was something Zoro hadn't even considered before — trust Sanji to be the first one to point out that there was more at stake than a simple delay of their travels. Judging by Robin's expression, she too had realised the gravity of the situation, and now that he was faced with severe rationing, even Luffy seemed concerned.

Good.

It was about time their captain realised that not everything was fun and games at sea, and while Zoro hated seeing him worried, it was also necessary for him to understand what exactly was going on.

"There isn't anything about this part in the books I could find," Nami said eventually, worriedly biting her lower lip while her finger was tapping lightly against the glass, "which usually isn't a good sign, because despite the ever-changing conditions on the Grand Line, most phenomena have been recorded at some point."

"If someone survived to do it," Zoro voiced her silent concern, and the look she awarded him with told him he had hit the nail on the head. He wasn't surprised; if they had kept the sails up any longer, the mast might have cracked or the ship could have moved SOME, but consequently would have been pierced by the ice surrounding them, effectively sinking it in no time. Also, there was the matter of food to be considered, and since none of them knew for how long they would be stuck, there was a good possibility that many crews before them had starved to death before they could free themselves.

Nami nodded gravely, looking around the faces at the table with an equally stern and worried expression. "Which means that we need to be extra careful now. We can't afford to let our guard drop even for a second. Which means no more naps when you're on watch duty," she said with a glare in Zoro's direction which he found somewhat unfair because what exactly could he have done to prevent this situation anyway? Even had he been awake, there was nothing he could actually do against ICE forming around their ship, and the only reason he didn't point that out was that he knew Nami was aware of that and was simply worried and on edge.

She moved on with a murderous look towards Luffy, who gulped audibly at her sudden attention. "No stealing food when you think no one's watching. This is important, so don't try anything!" She nodded in Sanji's direction. "You need to make sure he stays away from everything edible unless you give it to him." She didn't need to add that they would have to severely ration their supplies for the time being because if anyone was aware of that, it was Sanji. He briefly smiled brightly at Nami and cried "of course, Nami-swan! You can count on me!" before he turned towards Luffy with a warning glare and an "Eat the food and I will gut you."

Luffy didn't protest for the moment, but Zoro was more than reasonably certain he would have to help Sanji guard the pantry at night, and he had already added a mental note to ask Usopp for a device that would stop their captain from getting them all to starve by the time Nami moved on to Robin and Chopper.

"We might be stuck here for a while, so there's a good chance some of us might get sick," she said slowly, already aware of the fact that she would be the most likely victim because the boys were somehow unkillable and had yet to catch the flu even once, "we should be prepared for that. And Robin, I would really appreciate it if you could help me go through the books to try and find something that might tell us more about the situation."

They all nodded gravely, already making mental checklists and crisis plans in silence, and it wasn't long until Sanji kicked them out to take inventory and they all went to find something to occupy themselves with. Zoro had a half-formed plan in his mind to try and break the ice in one spot to at least see how deeply it was frozen, but before he went out there again he needed to get a coat. As unlikely as it was for him to get sick, it was still a possibility, and he shuddered to think what would happen to the ship in a situation like this when he was incapable of helping out.

Mind set, he climbed into their quarters and rummaged through the chest with his meagre belongings, more or less certain that there should be a coat in there somewhere. He vaguely remembered taking one off some guy on the island they had got Chopper from, so he was hoping that one was still there.

"Whatcha doing?"

"HNNGG!" Zoro flinched, instinctively going for his sword for a split second before he breathed in and out deeply once and turned around to glare at Luffy. "Don't do that."

"Sorry."

He didn't look sorry, but then again, his captain rarely was, and by now Zoro had learnt to let it go if he was to stand any chance at maintaining his sanity, so instead of arguing about it, he turned back towards his chest and continued his search as if nothing had happened and asked casually: "So what are you doing in here anyway?"

"It's cold outside," Luffy pouted, clearly upset that nature wasn't acting like he wanted, "and Chopper forbid me to stay there without a coat."

Zoro had figured as much; Luffy rarely staid indoors if he wasn't sleeping, and meeting him down here had come as some surprise to say the least. "So get it and leave," he suggested, still looking for his own.

The kid was quiet for a moment that made Zoro distinctively uneasy, and he knew what he would find even before he turned around and stared at a close-to-tears-looking Luffy. "I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS!" he burst out, lower lip wobbling dangerously, and the swordsman knew that he would be inconsolable until he was allowed to get outside and join the 'fun' again.

Sighing heavily, Zoro massaged his suddenly aching temples for a second before he fixed Luffy with an annoyed look and asked between clenched teeth: "Well, where have you seen it last?"

"I, er…" He looked uncomfortable for a moment, and Zoro immediately knew that he wouldn't like the next bit at all. "I think I left it on Drum Island."

Luffy at least had the decency to look mildly guilty at the admission, but Zoro still wasn't thrilled to hear it. There was no way the kid could run around outside without a coat, and Luffy would turn into a nightmare before the day was over if he was forced to stay indoors.

It dawned on him embarrassingly late that there was a reason the captain was looking at him out of wide adorable eyes, and once he understood where this was headed, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and growled as threateningly as he could while faced with that expression: "You want my coat, is that what you're saying?"

Luffy immediately lit up, clearly thrilled that Zoro had understood him without words as usual — also, as usual, not picking up on the annoyed vibes surrounding his swordsman.

"Awesome! Thanks, Zo—"

"I didn't say I'd give it to you, moron!" Zoro cried, hitting him lightly over the head.

"But…" Luffy really did look like a child now, seconds away from crying until everyone else got down here, and Zoro took an instinctive step backwards at the realisation. What would that look like? Making his captain cry in a situation like this… Nevermind that his request was completely unreasonable and in no way his responsibility — the others would surely think Zoro had done something terrible, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

"Wait— hold on a second— don't—" He groaned, awkwardly hesitating before his hands could touch the shaking boy in front of him, torn between comforting and strangling him at once. "Don't cry," he closed lamely, arms still half-way outstretched, just in case he would be able to make up his mind in the next seconds.

Luffy sniffed heartbreakingly once, twice, before he breathed in deeply and said: "You never wear it anyway! You're always training in the cold without it… I won't break it, I promise!"

"That's not why…!" He broke off, carefully not contradicting his captain's last statement despite distinctly remembering a freshly recovered Nami charging humongous amounts for her torn coat not so long ago from the very boy currently pleading with him. He sighed, trying again. "That's not the issue here, Luffy. I can't give it to you because I need it myself."

"But—"

"Listen," he interrupted him quickly, wondering if there was any chance of him getting out of this conversation as the owner of his coat, which he was currently doubting because once Luffy set his mind on something, the matter was pretty much decided, "I was gonna check out how thick the ice is. Getting through could take a while, so I'm gonna need that coat." He sighed, slightly patting Luffy's head before turning towards the chest again. "Sorry, buddy."

Luffy was quiet for an eerie amount of time, and eventually Zoro could hear him turn around and getting ready to leave, although where to was beyond him since Chopper would constrain him to something if he caught him outside and Sanji would kick him from here to the next island if he dared venture into the kitchen.

Immediately flushed with guilt at the realisation that Luffy must have been feeling not only bored but also extremely useless while everyone else was busy trying to figure out a way to escape their frozen prison, Zoro opened his mouth to say something, but Luffy was quicker.

"I understand. We have to get out of here."

He sounded reasonable when he said it, but something was off and Zoro could feel it, although he wasn't sure what to do about it. If he gave in and handed the coat over now (which he was more than sorely tempted to do because dammit, he just couldn't tune down the protective feeling he got whenever the younger members of the crew were concerned, especially if it was Luffy), his captain would refuse it with the reasoning that Zoro's work was more important than having fun outside, and he didn't want to bring him into a position that would require him to spell out that he was useless in a situation such as this.

Not that he was.

Luffy was important in a way that inspired everyone else on board to do their best and come up with solutions even though the captain himself might have been rather clueless, so while he was undoubtedly feeling like dead weight right now, he certainly was not, but Zoro wasn't sure how to put that in words.

He had never been very good at this.

He wanted to say something that would make Luffy feel better, but he wasn't exactly a man of many words, and the two of them had never really required any, so the only thing he could do in this instance was watch his captain leave with guilt nagging at him with every step he took.

Sighing heavily, he resolved to make up for it later, but for the moment he really had to find that coat; the sooner they got out of there, the better.


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't you have anything sharper?"

"You already destroyed half my equipment! Don't you think I'd have given it to you by now if I did?"

Zoro huffed in annoyance, but Usopp was right — they all wanted him to break through the ice as quickly as possible; if there was anything better suited for the job on ship, someone would have given it to him by now.

"Fine," he grunted, hitting the ice once again with the pointy end of an oddly shaped tool Usopp had handed him, "but you better come up with something else, because I think that thing's almost done for."

"AGAIN?!"

Zoro paid no attention to his threats and pleads; he was too focused on his work. He had intended to use his swords, but in the end they were too precious to risk on a menial task such as this, and Zoro had vowed to himself that his sword-breaking days were over a long time ago. There was nothing for it; he would have to make do with anything Usopp handed him, although the engineer seemed as thrilled about that as Zoro felt.

"Stop whining and hand me the next one," he interrupted the other's protests calmly, carelessly throwing the broken tool onto the already sizable junk heap next to him. "I'd like to get this done while the sun's still out."

An optimistic goal if ever he'd had one. It was already getting dark, and as much as he hated to admit it, his fingers were slowly starting to freeze, making it infinitely harder to get a good hold of his tools. The conditions were slowing him down a lot, but even had they been ideal, Zoro knew that it still would have taken him several hours to break through the ice.

If he was lucky.

"Dinner's ready," Sanji's voice announced from directly above him, and when Zoro looked up, he was standing at the railing next to Usopp, inspecting their progress with a critical eye. He at least had the good sense not to comment on it, or perhaps he couldn't see it from the distance, but Zoro hadn't got very far at all in the time he'd spent outside. The ice was thicker than he had hoped it would be and oddly hard to break through, as if the entire ocean was pushing against it, and the process of getting through was as tedious as it was slow.

"Fine," Zoro huffed, gathering the broken tools and taking them up with him as he joined the others back on the ship, "I shouldn't work in the dark anyway."

The others nodded, aware of the dangers of getting lost in the sea when the vision wasn't good, and Usopp said with some relief: "Good. That might give me some time to save my tools."

"It's not like I WANTED to break them!"

"If you wouldn't be so rough all the time…!"

Zoro didn't want to hear it, and he sure as hell wasn't in the mood to bear criticism about his apparent lack of gentleness, but Usopp wouldn't let it go, now that he was nervous and on edge even more likely to go on a rant than usually, so they ended up arguing until they had managed to reach the galley, although they weren't consciously aware of it.

He was annoyed beyond words, not nearly as forgiving when it came to Usopp's antics as he was about Chopper's and Luffy's. Perhaps it was because the other two had excuses like being a reindeer and therefore not used to human customs, or being incorrigible and an eternal child, or perhaps it was because Usopp's cowardice and dishonesty went against everything Zoro believed in, but he quickly felt his patience dwindling, and he was itching for one of his swords right about now.

He normally wouldn't have reacted like this, and he knew it; any other day, he would have shrugged it off and fallen asleep right in the middle of Usopp's rant, but he was tired, anxious, and somewhat itchy because he hadn't seen his captain since their discussion below deck, and nothing made Zoro as uncomfortable as not knowing what Luffy was up to.

It didn't help one bit that he felt as if their fates depended purely on luck at this point because there was no opponent to fight and no battle to win, and Zoro had yet to find a way to beat nature itself, so when he heard Usopp say "well it's not like you're the captain", something inside him snapped, and he felt himself go for the kid's throat despite not being consciously aware of anything having happened at all yet.

"Enough."

Zoro froze before he could raise his hand, and he turned like everyone else to stare at Luffy, who was sitting at the table with a dark expression, clearly not impressed by their bickering.

"Usopp," he said quietly, face hidden beneath his straw hat, and Zoro flinched at seeing him wear his usual light clothes, "if Zoro gives you an order, you follow it. You know that."

"But… but…"

"It has never been a problem before," Nami said uncertainly, as if torn between asking them what had happened and hitting them for behaving like children.

"Well, perhaps it should have been!" Usopp defended himself heatedly, clearly not aware of the tense energy in the room. "I mean he always runs around as if he owns the place, and now he broke half of my things! I'm just saying that maybe someone should remind him he's not actually the captain, that's all."

Luffy was quiet for a very long time, and Zoro knew without checking that all eyes were on him.

"Did he do it on purpose?"

That made Usopp halt, and he looked extremely uncomfortable when he said: "Well… no, but—"

"Did he do anything I wouldn't have agreed with?"

Zoro could practically FEEL Usopp crumble under the subtle admonishment, and he felt himself smile slightly despite himself at the reminder that Luffy could be extremely smart when he wanted to be.

"I'm sorry, Zoro," Usopp mumbled almost inaudibly, but Zoro didn't care either way. He had long forgiven the engineer, fully aware that Usopp didn't truly believe any of the things he had said or insinuated and that their current situation was especially hard on someone as lacking in bravery as him.

"Don't sweat it." The swordsman shrugged, plumping down beside his captain with a huge yawn he didn't bother to hide. "But do something about those tools, will ya? It's gonna take me days to get through with the stuff we have right now."

Nami perked up at that, looking equal parts worried and excited when she asked: "How far did you make it?"

"It's not really worth mentioning," Zoro admitted, carefully omitting his suspicion that the ice could easily be several meters thick and he hadn't even made it through one.

She groaned, burying her head in her hands and not looking up even as Sanji put her food down in front of her with an annoying squeak and lovesick eyes.

"I could help you," Chopper suggested, but Zoro shook his head before he had finished.

"No way. I don't want anyone who can't swim out there."

The reindeer looked at him out of wide eyes for a moment, as if he'd just realised that he was one of those people, and it wasn't the first time Zoro thought the doctor wasn't nearly as aware of his powers as Luffy and Robin were. Perhaps that was due to the fact that Chopper had been living a sheltered life on an island before they'd got him and was therefore not used to the dangers of the sea, although it would have been a stretch to say Luffy was. The difference between them was simply that while Chopper could easily forget about the necessity of avoiding water, the captain simply didn't care.

"I'd rather you keep helping us with those books," Nami admitted, "you're a pretty quick reader."

Robin nodded in agreement, and Chopper immediately blushed and danced giddily on the spot at the compliment.

"So I take it you haven't made any progress then?" Zoro asked darkly, ignoring the reindeer for now.

"No." Nami sighed, taking a hesitant bite of her food. "And I'm not sure we will."

Robin nodded quietly, looking as pessimistic as the rest of them, and Zoro clenched his teeth at the thought of the ice surrounding them. It would have to be deep to stop the Going Merry, he was certain of that, and even if he could break through in one spot, he still had no idea how to get the ship moving again…

"You look angry," Luffy noticed, tearing him away from his dark thoughts for the moment.

He couldn't help but smile at the worried expression on his captain's face, and a moment later, he found his hand playfully shoving the kid to lighten the mood a bit as he said: "Nah, just tired. I never got to finish my nap after all."

It worked; Luffy awarded him with that idiotic grin of his, and his laughter followed shortly.

"That's true," he giggled, "Zoro doesn't like being interrupted when he's sleeping."

"Damn right I don't."

He felt himself smiling back before he could fight against it, and a moment later he decided he didn't want to anyway. He had been worried about Luffy at the back of his mind ever since their conversation, and seeing him not only not mad but downright cheerful was doing wonders for his mood.

That reminded him—

"What did you do all day anyway?" he asked between a mouthful of food, still surprised that he hadn't caught Luffy trying to sneak out despite Chopper's orders.

The captain shrugged, shoving everything on his plate into his mouth at once.

"Helped Nami and Robin sorting through the books."

"You can read?"

"Sure."

Huh.

He wouldn't have called Luffy 'illiterate', but… yeah, actually that would have been an apt description. It had surprised Zoro more than once that the kid had gotten to this point with his confused vocabulary, and as far as he could remember, he had never actually seen him so much as look at a book before, let alone touch and read it.

Maybe miracles really DID happen.

Luffy didn't look too thrilled at the prospect of repeating the experience however, and that in itself was a bit reassuring for Zoro at least.

_Hasn't changed that much then._

He chuckled, taking a huge sip of sake before he said: "Is that right? And did you find anything interesting?"

"No, it was booooooooring," Luffy whined, clinging to Zoro with a desperate look on his face. "It was just oldtimers talking about their lifestories! Robin promised me adventures." He was pouting now, a betrayed look on his face.

Zoro, despite not knowing her that well yet, was reasonably certain that Robin really HAD thought of those tales as adventures, but he guessed she didn't quite understand yet that for Luffy such things included action, and Zoro doubted his captain was capable of grasping something like that if he couldn't be directly involved.

Proving his original assessment of the kid.

"Maybe you could help Usopp with his tools?" Zoro suggested vaguely, fully aware that nothing on the ship was of much interest to Luffy while they were trapped at sea.

At least nothing not involving food, and there was no way Sanji would let him get anywhere near that as long as they were stranded.

"That's boring too," Luffy whined, crossing his arms in front of his chest in annoyance. "I wanna help YOU!"

Zoro sighed tiredly, rubbing his aching temples in an attempt to maintain his patience. It wasn't that he hadn't seen that plea coming, but that didn't make dealing with it any easier.

"I told you, no," he said calmly, wondering how long it would take Luffy to understand the limitations his powers had given him, "it's too dangerous."

"I'm not afraid."

"I know you're not. That's the problem." Zoro set down his sake, fixing Luffy with an intent stare to try and make him understand just how badly this could end for him. "The cold would make it a lot harder for any of us to rescue you in time, and the possibility of us dying with you in the attempt is pretty high. I don't want to risk it."

_Shouldn't the CAPTAIN of the ship be concerned with such things?_

Luffy didn't look like he was — he was, after all, still a child at heart when it came to his personal entertainment, and as much as he cared about his crew, Zoro knew that he had absolutely no grasp of the dangers even if they were explained to him. Luffy was still operating under the assumption that just because nothing fatal had happened to them yet, it never would in the future either, and he wasn't even aware of the fact that that was only due to everyone on the ship working incredibly hard to keep it that way, despite their captain's best efforts to get them killed because he got excited about something at times.

It was part of the qualities Zoro admired the most about his captain, but not in this specific moment, and he could feel his cheek twitch at Luffy's pouting expression when he was trying to keep him safe. Breathing in deeply to calm himself, he took a sip of his sake and contemplated how to best deal with Luffy without offending him by implying he was weak.

"I'm not jumping after you," he heard himself saying without meaning to, "so you better have a backup plan when you step on that ice."

He didn't know why he'd said it; it wasn't like that was even close to the truth. If there was one thing he was certain of, it was that he would ALWAYS go after Luffy, no matter the danger, and it seemed ridiculous to even suggest otherwise.

Either way, he'd said it, and Luffy was suspiciously quiet next to him, staring at his plate with his face hidden behind that straw hat.

Zoro regretted his words when his captain remained motionless, but at least he'd stopped arguing about it.

_Better mad than dead._

But even though that seemed like a good compromise in the long run, Luffy being annoyed with him wasn't a pleasant feeling. At all.

Sighing heavily, Zoro stood and instinctively grabbed for the swords that weren't there. Flinching slightly, he took his plate instead and put it on top of Luffy's empty one without saying a word.

He wasn't hungry anyway.

He didn't linger to see if Luffy accepted his apology, instead heading straight for the quarterdeck.

_Let him sulk; my mind won't change._

#

He pretended to be asleep when the others slowly trickled in, and only when he was absolutely certain that Luffy wasn't among them did he rise and grab his things, silently annoyed at his own inability to let this go. He opened the hatch and left as quietly as he could, relatively certain he hadn't woken the others when he closed it behind himself and turned to look around the ship.

Zoro knew that Luffy was out here somewhere, so he started climbing the crow's nest when he couldn't see him anywhere else, and sure enough, he landed right beside him a few moments later, not even rousing a small flinch from his captain when he did.

_Still mad then._

He sunk down beside the kid as gently as he could, a crass contrast to his usual careless dropping, but he could feel something was off, and he didn't want to scare him.

"I see you found a jacket," Zoro said calmly, trying to stay on neutral ground as much as possible, even though every conversation they could possibly have was bound to be loaded as long as they remained trapped in ice.

"Nami gave it to me."

He had sounded fine, like always, but he still wasn't looking at Zoro, and that said more than anything.

Shrugging, the swordsman leaned back against the wood and looked up at the cloudless sky. "It doesn't suit you."

Luffy actually chuckled at that, and Zoro felt the corners of his lips twitch despite himself.

_Not that mad after all, huh?_

"It's ugly," the captain agreed easily, a bright grin on his face when he finally turned towards him, "but it's warm. And Chopper said I could take first watch if I had it!"

Zoro didn't doubt it; he could almost see Luffy begging the doctor endlessly for the chance to do something useful, to feel like he too was contributing in an important way to their progress, and he could also see Nami jumping at the chance of charging their captain endless amounts of money for it.

"So I take it you're not going back to reading with the others, huh?"

"No way!" Luffy grimaced, looking as if he was in actual physical pain.

"Hmph." Zoro closed his eyes for a second, basking in the peacefulness of the night, and for a moment he was tempted to make up for his interrupted nap right there, but there was still one more matter to attend to.

"Here," he said, throwing his blue winter jacket at his captain's face, "if you're gonna stay outside from now on, you'll need something decent to wear."

Luffy stared at it for a long moment before he finally blinked dumbly and looked at Zoro out of wide eyes. "But…"

"I found it when I was looking for the other one," he shrugged carelessly, a tiny bit uncomfortable with being stared at that intently, "thought you could use it. But if you prefer Nami's…"

"NO!" Luffy jumped up, quickly shedding the girl's coat and letting it drop to the floor without another thought. A second later, he was wearing the blue jacket, snuggling deeply into the fabric with a huge smile, giggling happily when he dropped back beside Zoro, head half buried inside the jacket. "It's much warmer!"

Zoro sincerely doubted that because Nami generally had a very good eye for expensive things, but he wasn't about to argue with his captain about something like that. Not now that he was finally grinning brightly at him again, as if he had long forgotten anything that had happened that day. It suited Zoro just fine that Luffy was incapable of holding a grudge against anyone, and he allowed himself to relax against the wood for a moment, knowing that they were okay again.

"And it smells good," Luffy added as an afterthought, sniffing the jacket with a curious expression.

Zoro blushed to the root of his moss-green hair, turning to grab a hold of his captain. "Stop it! Don't… stop doing that!"

They struggled for a while, Luffy refusing to stop smelling the jacket now mainly because Zoro's reaction was entertaining and he hadn't played all day, but after a while they got tired, and Zoro fell back with an exhausted huff, trying not to be too annoyed at Luffy's behaviour. Actually, he was surprised that the captain wasn't acting much worse than that. He had been locked up all day after all, and Zoro had more than half expected him to go wild as soon as he was released from the confinements of the ship.

"You should go inside before you get cold," Zoro said eventually, eyes already closed in his usual watch-duty position.

Luffy seemed to contemplate that for a moment before he sunk back against the wall of the crow's nest, his shoulder leaning against Zoro's, and said simply: "I'm staying here."

He knew better than to argue; if Luffy wanted to do something, he was gonna do it, and there was nothing Zoro or anyone else could do to stop him. Besides, having company wouldn't necessarily keep him awake, but it would still be nice, he supposed, especially since Luffy's body was warm beside him and the cold - while not unbearable - was rather unpleasant if exposed to it too long.

"Fine. But don't wake me up unless there's an emergency."

Luffy giggled, snuggling against Zoro's shoulder until he found a position that was comfortable enough for the moment. "Nobody can wake you up."

The kid had a point, so he didn't argue and simply endured the fidgeting beside him until it was over and Luffy was squeezed neatly against his side, draping Zoro's arm over himself to keep warm.

It was nice, in a way, feeling Luffy's heartbeat against his side and his wild hair tickle Zoro's cheek because the straw hat had wandered towards the ground next to them for having been a hindrance, and he could almost feel himself slipping when he concentrated on the warmth, but then there was something else, something deeper, and it kept Zoro on edge, raising his awareness.

He doubted he would get any sleep tonight.

* * *

I swear I love Usopp, he's hilarious, and Zoro's extremely protective about him behind all his annoyance, but cabin fever does weird things to people.


	3. Chapter 3

He was awoken rather rudely by Sanji kicking the mast because he couldn't be bothered to climb all the way up to tell them breakfast was ready, and he had already formed a suitable reply in his head when he noticed an arm tightening around his waist, and before he had time to protest, he found himself catapulted onto the deck by his eager captain.

It took him a moment to collect himself, but once he did, he kicked the feet out from under the kid, causing Luffy to fall back into the snow that had gathered over night with a delighted laugh, dragging Zoro with him.

"Snow!" he cheered, moving his limbs happily in the cold mass until it assumed his shape, "I love snow!"

"No kidding," Zoro grunted, righting himself with an annoyed expression before he started patting off the white fluff from his coat. He should have known Luffy would hold on to him to drag him down too, but in the moment he hadn't even considered the possibility.

Rookie mistake.

"If you don't get your lazy asses in here in five seconds, I'm giving all your food to the ladies!"

The threat worked at least on Luffy, who immediately jumped up with a startled expression, holding on to his straw hat so it wouldn't get blown away. "What? No way!"

Zoro could only shake his head at the sudden rush his captain was in to get to the galley, following more slowly behind while he took a moment to inspect their surroundings. They were still surrounded by ice, and he doubted it would get any better by itself. The snow had been new, but he had expected it ever since they'd been trapped, so he hadn't been surprised to wake up covered in white.

Not that it made his job any easier. Now he would have to get rid of the layer of snow first before he could continue digging his hole.

Perfect.

Inside, everyone was already sipping on a hot beverage Sanji had provided them with, and the lack of death-threats told Zoro that Luffy hadn't tried or at least not managed to steal any food last night, making for a relaxed atmosphere at the table.

Well.

As relaxed as it could get considering their current situation.

Clenching his jaw tightly at the thought of their predicament, Zoro plopped down next to Luffy, who was already half-way through with his breakfast, and slowly took a sip of the steaming hot drink the cook had provided them with. It was good, unsurprisingly, because despite their disagreements and competitive nature, even Zoro had to admit that the lovesick idiot was good at what he was doing.

No need to tell him though.

He noticed the strained silence when he took his first bite, and when he looked up, all eyes were on him. Stopping in his movements, he wondered for a second what they could possibly be accusing him of when he realised that they didn't look angry but rather expectant.

"I'll get back to it after breakfast," he sighed, finally taking a bite of his sandwich, "so stop staring at me like that."

"Right." Nami's grip tightened around her cup, and she exchanged an anxious look with Robin, who seemed the most relaxed at the table apart from their captain. They had claimed the spots surrounding Chopper, more or less unconsciously seeking out his furry warmth, and the little reindeer seemed to be basking in the sudden attention he was getting although he still looked rather worried.

Zoro sighed heavily, putting down his sandwich without finishing it and turned towards Usopp.

"Did you come up with something?"

The sniper perked up at that, eyes glinting mischievously when he pointed a thumb at his own chest and proclaimed proudly: "Of course! I, Captain—"

"Oi! I'm the captain!"

"—Usopp have come up with a miraculous contraption that will save all of us!" He jumped up, ignoring Luffy's sulky protests and took something out of the bag he had kept hidden under the table. It looked rather dull in Zoro's opinion, but Usopp seemed proud of himself, so he refrained from saying anything for the moment.

"Looks like a spear to me," Sanji pointed out when nobody else said anything, and Zoro had to silently agree with him. It was long and pointy, and although it seemed to be made of sturdy iron, there wasn't really anything special about it as far as they could see.

Usopp simply shook his head with a patronising smile, considering them all with a look that spelt pity for their simple minds. "'A spear' he says! Ha! Behold the amazing powers of Captain—"

"Hey!"

"—Usopp's miracle harpoon!"

He turned the handle and a second later sharp spikes turned upwards towards his hand shot out of the iron tube, causing Nami and Chopper to instinctively flinch back. Luffy was laughing delightedly while Zoro and Sanji just stared for a moment with an unspoken question in their eyes: How was this going to help?

"Weird," the cook murmured eventually, shaking his head as he started collecting empty plates to put into the sink.

"Er, Usopp," Zoro tried with a bit more tact, unwilling to get caught in another argument like yesterday, "what is… _that_?"

The sniper swung his invention towards him, barely missing Luffy's head because Zoro had seen that move coming and pushed his unfazed captain towards the tabletop without interrupting his eating of the sandwich he had sneaked off the swordsman's plate. Luffy barely seemed to notice, happily munching on the stolen food while Zoro glared at the sharp ends that should not be handled by someone like their inventor.

"This," Usopp said, oblivious to his failed assassination attempt, "is what I call the 'Icebreaker'."

"Wasn't it the 'Miracle Harpoon' just a moment ago?" Nami asked cautiously, eyeing the thing warily while it remained pointed at Zoro.

Usopp shrugged, swinging the Icebreaker carelessly around in the process while the crew dodged it expertly. Robin didn't even spill her coffee when she leaned back to avoid it, but a moment later a hand grew on the table and kept a stern grip around the iron. The sniper didn't seem to notice, instead focusing on presenting his newest gadget.

"I changed my mind. It's the Icebreaker now. Anyway," he said hurriedly before anyone could argue, "the point is that I considered Zoro's freakish strength—"

"Hey!"

"—and since he seems hellbent on breaking stuff—"

"Usopp…"

"—with no regard for other people's property—"

"I'm warning you!"

"—I figured 'why not use that to our advantage?' and thus the Icebreaker was born," Usopp concluded, not noticing the grip Zoro had on Wado. "Basically, how it works is you drill it into the ice as far as possible and once it's stuck there, you turn the handle and the spikes come out, so when you pull on it, you break the ice wide open."

Silence followed his explanation, and it was Nami who regained her wits first, saying mildly impressed: "Usopp, that's… kind of brilliant."

"Yeah, who knew you had it in you?" Sanji nodded, patting Luffy's sneaking hand away before it could reach the fridge.

"Wooooooooow!" Chopper's eyes sparkled with admiration, and he leaned closer towards Usopp. "You're so awesomeeeee!"

Zoro considered the apparatus for a second before he nodded and said: "All right then. Let's try it out."

"Aww yeah!" Luffy jumped up, rubbing his hands in excitement. "Let's go!"

"Not you, moron!" Zoro grabbed his captain's cheek and dragged him back down to sit next to him. "You can't swim, remember?"

Luffy looked dumbstruck for a moment, staring at him out of wide eyes.

"But… but I want to…"

He wasn't going to cry, Zoro knew he wasn't, but dammit, that hurt puppy look sure hit right where he suspected Luffy meant it to. There was no way he could say no now, and he didn't need to look at the others to realise that they had come to the same conclusion.

"Sucker," Sanji mumbled with his back to him while he started on the dishes.

Zoro ignored him, too focused on trying to find a way to refuse his captain, but he had known that fight was lost as soon as it had started.

Only one thing left to do.

"Fine," he grunted, letting go of Luffy's stretched cheek and grabbing Usopp's Icebreaker from Robin's disappearing hand, "but you're not allowed to leave the ship. You can watch from the deck. That's my last offer."

"Aww yisssssss!" Luffy jumped up with a huge grin, taking the iron bar before Zoro had time to react, and ran outside.

"Dammit, Luffy!"

#

Twenty minutes later found him throwing away the shovel with a more or less pleased sigh, followed by handing Usopp everything he wouldn't need down on the ice any longer so he could take it up to the ship again. He had been able to convince the sniper to at least give him a hand with getting rid of all the snow by reminding him of what he would do with the shovels if he spent too much time with them.

Now that Usopp's part was over, Luffy grabbed him and dragged him up to the deck again, and surprisingly enough, the sniper didn't crash into anything on the way. They watched Zoro expectantly from the railing while he was busy trying to figure out how exactly Usopp's little gadget worked, but he got the hang of it soon enough and was drilling it mercilessly into the ice.

"I wanna do that too," Luffy whined, leaning his chin against the railing with an annoyed look, "it's not fair! Stupid Zoro. Let me—!"

"I said no!" Zoro grunted, not even bothering to look up since he could imagine all too well what his captain must look like at the moment. "Now stop whining or get back inside and bother that idiot cook or something."

Luffy pouted, drawing random figures into the snow on the railing with his bare fingers. "Sanji won't let me into the kitchen again," he admitted in a tiny voice, "I think he doesn't trust me."

"Imagine that," Zoro huffed quietly, thinking to himself that the peaceful truce between his captain and the cook had seemed fishy from the start. So something HAD happened between them after all. Luffy probably took a pretty good beating; Sanji didn't kid around when it came to food, and Zoro figured it was only a matter of time until he could convince Nami to finally give him money to buy a fridge with a lock — and its own security system.

"You shouldn't have tried to sneak in yesterday," Usopp said bluntly, already busy working on something new.

"But I was hungry!"

Zoro did look up at that, eyebrows raised in a question as he took in his captain's pitiful expression. "You sneaked into the kitchen?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Usopp snickered while he was tying a string around something, "more like barged in without thinking of the possibility that Sanji might be waiting for him already."

Zoro sighed in exasperation and scratched his head when he said simply: "Luffy."

"I was hungry!" the captain insisted, crossing his arms on the railing now to properly pout at Zoro below. "Sanji's mean! He kicked me out and said he'd be there every night now." He leaned forward, a horrified expression on his face. "How am I supposed to get food now? I'll starve!"

"Don't be so dramatic." Zoro grunted, digging the Icebreaker deeper in by putting his entire weight into it. "You've been eating most of MY food, haven't you?"

Luffy blinked, caught by surprise for a moment. "Well… yeah, but—"

"So what are you complaining about? You're already getting more than anyone else on the ship." He stopped for a second, hesitating briefly before turning the handle on the spear. "The cook is right to stop you from eating everything at once. If he didn't, we'd all be done for in a matter of days. I doubt you'd like to find out what it's like to ACTUALLY starve."

He held on to the spear as tightly as he could and pulled it out in one swift motion, causing the ice beneath him to crack and crumble right where he was standing. He barely had time to breathe in sharply, but before he could fall into the sea, a pair of rubber arms encircled his body and pulled him up towards the ship where he had a less than gentle landing that propelled him and Luffy against the mast.

The captain started giggling a second later, righting himself and his straw hat before Zoro had time to admonish him for his careless usage of his powers that always seemed to target the swordsman of all people.

"And you thought 'I' was gonna drown!" Luffy said with more delight than Zoro found appropriate considering that they were talking about the possibility of his death, but he let it slide because he thought that all it did was prove his point.

"And if you'd been down there with me, we'd both be done for now, so stop laughing and take this serious for once, will you," he grunted, finally dragging himself up from the snow to walk towards the railing so he could look at the hole he had just created.

It wasn't actually that tragic; Luffy had reacted on instinct, but there hadn't actually been any need for his interference after all. The ice had cracked, sure, but there were still several layers to go, and there wasn't a single drop of water to be seen yet.

Brilliant.

"Zoro isn't very strong," Luffy noticed calmly by his side, inspecting the split ice with almost disappointed boredom.

"Shut up!"

He didn't put his full strength into the hit, mainly because he knew Luffy was wrong and suspected his captain was aware of that too (or at least he hoped so), and because he felt the full force of the worry he had been trying to suppress ever since yesterday hitting him now that he was faced with the realisation that his suspicions had been correct.

The ice was thick.

Really thick.

Perhaps there wasn't even anything liquid left beneath it.

The idea had been swirling around his head for some time, but only now that he was staring at a rather sizable hole in the solid ice did he allow it to take full form and bother him.

Dammit.

"Thaaaaaaaat's not good," Usopp noticed a moment later, finally joining them in their gaping.

"You don't say," Zoro grunted, crossing his hands in front of his chest in thought. He didn't want to do it, but Luffy's interference had given him an idea, and really, when it came down to it, he'd much rather avoid falling into the surely icy water IF he did manage to break through eventually.

And it wasn't like their captain wasn't itching to be useful anyway.

"Hey, Luffy," Zoro said cautiously, watching the boy look up slowly while he was still rubbing his aching head after the blow, "I've got a job for you. It's not quite what you had in mind, but no one else can do it."

He brightened up at that, immediately grinning again, and stretched to his full height with a happy "I'll do it!"

"Good. Because I'll need you to hold on to me."

Zoro didn't say anything more than that, but then again, he didn't need to. The barest hint was enough for Luffy to catch on with his plan as he always did, and when Zoro jumped back down again to continue his work, he felt a pair of rubbery arms enclosing and holding him securely enough to pull him up at a second's notice without impairing his movements.

Perfect.

#

Luffy held out longer than Zoro had expected, but eventually the inevitable boredom set in and singing stupid songs wasn't enough to keep the captain entertained anymore.

Not that Zoro wasn't grateful to hear him shut up.

However, a bored Luffy was an annoying Luffy, and it wasn't much longer after that that Zoro had to give up with a sigh and tugged on the randomly tightening and loosening arms around his waist to get his captain's attention.

"I'm done for today," he explained when Luffy turned towards him with a mortally bored expression, "so get me back up."

He didn't waste any time, and a second later Zoro realised that he should have mentioned to be careful about it, but by then he was already halfway through crashing into the mast again, Luffy following right behind so they ended up in a tangled mass of limbs.

"Shishishishishi," Luffy giggled, doing nothing to aid his swordsman's efforts to disentangle them, "Zoro's all covered in snow now!"

He didn't have to check to know the kid was right; it had started to snow again while he was working, and everything that hadn't landed on him then seemed to have accumulated on deck for them to tumble into and stick on him now.

He should have told Usopp to start shovelling before he'd had a chance to flee inside.

Sighing in exasperation, he gave up on trying to make sense of Luffy's rubber limbs and decided to just lie it out until Sanji would inevitably call them in for food. It was the easiest way to get rid of the captain in any situation, and Zoro doubted that plan would fail him now of all times.

"You're looking pretty white yourself there," he pointed out, flicking some of the white powder off Luffy's exposed head to prove his point.

"Mmmm, snow is AWESOME!" He grinned, carelessly flinging some of it around for a second before he halted in shock and cried: "My hat!"

Zoro flinched at the loud voice so close to his ear and quickly placed the straw hat he had caught during their fall back on his captain's head. "Stop screaming, I've got it."

"Pew," Luffy sighed, relaxing visibly at the familiar weight on his head, "thanks, Zoro."

"Don't mention it."

Luffy didn't, but neither did he move or seem inclined to do so in the near future. He had sunk down a bit once his hat had been returned, and apparently he'd found a comfortable spot on Zoro's stomach because he wasn't fidgeting anymore.

Surprised at the sudden calmness, Zoro frowned and considered his captain out of half-closed eyes. He was going to take a nap while he was lying there, but now that he got a good look at the kid, he couldn't help but wonder.

"Hey, Luffy," he grunted, shoving him a bit to get his attention without moving him away. The captain looked up out of bleary eyes, a questioning look on his face, and it took Zoro a moment to remember what he was going to say. "Are you cold?"

Luffy giggled at the question as if it was the most hilarious thing in the world, and said brightly: "Not anymore."

A dawning realisation hit him with sudden force, and a moment later he was grabbing Luffy's arm to inspect it closer. "Lemme see."

He pushed the sleeve up and flinched internally at the violent red of Luffy's skin. He should have thought of this before, but it hadn't even occurred to him that the clothing wouldn't stretch with him and therefore leave his arms exposed the entire time.

Stupid.

They would have to think of something for tomorrow, because Zoro sure as hell wasn't going to let Luffy do that again now that he knew that it left his captain widely exposed to the forces of nature. He also doubted that the kid would accept a ban from him now that he'd got the idea, no matter the personal sacrifice, and it wasn't even as if Zoro could blame him for that since he would have done the exact same thing if their roles had been reversed.

There was nothing for it; he would have to ask Nami for something that would cover Luffy's arms when they were stretched (even though it probably meant selling his soul to her), and they should probably get gloves too because as much as he hated to admit it, working in the cold for so long really left his fingers aching and stiff.

He doubted Luffy was feeling much different.

"You should have said something, moron," Zoro said sternly, quickly covering the exposed skin again to avoid any further damage.

Luffy frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest with an annoyed expression. "Like you're one to talk."

Zoro noticed that he was glaring at the swordsman's own exposed hands with some accusation, making him feel ridiculously self-conscious all of a sudden.

Blushing furiously for no apparent reason, he expertly hid the red and cracked up hands in his jacket sleeves so Luffy couldn't stare at them anymore before he grunted: "Shut up. It's not like I had a choice."

That had been the wrong thing to say. He could feel Luffy's body stiffen on top of him, and a moment later the captain was staring at him out of angry eyes, his relaxed position on Zoro's chest abandoned in order to properly glare at him from almost above him.

"Neither did I," he said simply, voice calmer than his eyes, but Zoro couldn't be fooled. He had hit a nerve, and he knew it. Swallowing almost audibly, he forced himself to not flinch away when Luffy's face came closer, but he briefly averted his eyes when he heard the crunching of snow to catch his captain's fingers burying themselves into the white mass next to his head.

_Dammit._

_Don't cry._

But then Luffy never did cry, did he, even when Zoro half expected him to. He usually controlled himself enough before it came to that, but the swordsman still flinched every time he could feel Luffy's emotions running wild.

It was making him nauseous just thinking about it.

"I know," he said as calmly as he possibly could given the situation, "sorry."

He sensed more than saw Luffy nod, and a moment later he felt his captain's weight settle over him again, head buried in Zoro's jacket as deeply as he could, and if he hadn't known better, he'd said the kid was shaking.

_Not so carefree after all._

He had been wondering when it would hit him; he'd almost expected to be wrong when it didn't before, but now he was almost relieved to find Luffy catch up with the whiplash, clinging tightly to him without even realising it.

_He's such a child._

Luffy didn't deal well with loss, Zoro had always known that, had suspected it from the very beginning when that brat had decided he would join his crew and couldn't be swayed no matter what, but as time went by Zoro had realised the full extent of that fear, had seen it in his captain's unwillingness to give up on Nami despite her apparent betrayal, his face when Vivi chose her country over them…

_Idiot._

Chopper had asked him why they were following Luffy if he was such a moron, but the truth was that this was exactly why. Luffy could be so amazingly idiotic sometimes, even Zoro couldn't put into words just how annoyed he was.

Like right now.

And he couldn't help the slight rising of his lips at the display, couldn't suppress that stupid giddy feeling he got whenever Luffy was behaving like the silly kid he was.

Stupid.

Adorable.

"It would take more than that to kill me, y'know."

Luffy didn't say anything, didn't react at all, in fact, until they heard Sanji's voice calling everyone for dinner.

He jumped up as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't been worried sick, as if he had just shrugged everything off as always, and hurried towards the galley with a bright grin directed at Zoro.

"If you fall asleep, I'll eat your food!"

"Oi!"

He hurried to follow, knowing as well as his captain did that he would do it anyway, whether Zoro was there to witness it or not, and that he, in turn, would let him if he was, but it was good to see Luffy fall back into his silly nature again, and he'd be damned if he didn't go along with it.

The crisis had hit Luffy harder than expected after all, because Zoro KNEW that Luffy wouldn't have been that worried if it hadn't. Normally, his captain would have shrugged it off as he had at the beginning and it would never have caught up with him, but just like Usopp, he had fallen victim to his anxiousness, even if he didn't let it on, and Zoro thought it was only a matter of time until everyone else followed.

_Nothing more dangerous than a crew losing its nerves._

He would have to keep a close eye on them from now on; especially Luffy. If he was crumbling already, there was no telling what he would do in a couple of days.

_The burden of a captain is a heavy one indeed._


End file.
